What to Expect
We have said this at church many times, but it deserves to be said again: you can expect everything to change every week except for one thing: Jesus is at the center of all we do. We are a young fellowship, and as such we reserve the right to try new ways to engage our hearts in worshipping the Lord and learning the truth of His Word. Notice I said new "ways" and not new "truths". We want to figure out ways to engage this generation and our culture with the truth of God that has stood the test of time. There are no new truths, but there are lots of truths to discover anew.
Our services start promptly at 10am, but please feel free to come early for pastries and coffee. You are welcome to bring your kids into the service, but we would ask that you help keep them from being a distraction. If needed, you may take them out into our wonderful childcare and Sunday School classes--you are welcome to attend with them.
SUNDAY SCHOOL: Our Sunday School currently is only for infants through 8th grade. We have three classes: infants to 4 year olds, kindergarten to third grade, and fourth to eighth grade. Our hearts are to encourage families to worship together and to prepare our children for listening and learning from God's Word. Therefore, at the end of each service, all the kids (infants-8th) are welcome to join us for an extended worship time before we dismiss. We provide the option of taking your children into service with you or placing them in childcare; we want you to feel as comfortable as possible.
The services start with prayer, worship (typically 2-3 songs), reading of the Word, and then preaching. After the preaching is finished we take a two minute break to refill the coffee cups and get the kids from Sunday School. At this time you may either bring your children into the sanctuary to worship with you or leave them in their classroom until the end of service. We then have our extended worship session, announcements and benediction. We do not have an official offering time. The offering box is in the back and is for people who call Redeemer home.
Services usually last about an hour and a half, and we encourage you to hang out as long as possible to fellowship afterwards. And yes, you are welcome to drink coffee or tea or whatever throughout the service.
Parking: Many of you ask us, 'Where should we park?' The answer...wherever you can find a space. There is no specific church parking, but since it is downtown Modesto on a Sunday morning, there is not much competition for parking places. There are spaces on the street as well as at a few businesses close by that are available on Sundays. Also, there is a parking garage on 12th Street, if you don't mind walking a couple blocks.